State GOP Leader Chris Healy Considers Run For National Post

The 2010 elections provided some of the greatest political advances in history for Republicans, but that wave never fully arrived in Connecticut as the party lost races for governor, U.S. senator and five congressional seats.

There's been some rumbling that the losses should spell the end of the nearly four-year tenure of Connecticut state Republican Chairman Chris Healy.

But Healy is now being mentioned in the national media for a major promotion — to be chairman of the Republican National Committee.

His name has been floated by the Associated Press, Roll Call and The Washington Post's influential political blog, among others.

In a whirlwind 24 hours, Healy's candidacy has grown from a behind-the-scenes, back-room whispering campaign to a full-blown public race. As a nearly four-year member of the national committee through his state chairmanship, Healy already knows many of the 168 national members — and he would need 85 votes to oust embattled, outspoken Chairman Michael Steele.

"A number of people on the committee, which is where it counts, urged me to think about running,'' Healy said in an interview Wednesday night. "We need to create a real national Republican army. The record does not indicate that the Steele team can do it. At some point, you have to come out and say the emperor has no clothes.''

Healy, 53, said that he has no idea who mentioned his name to The Washington Post, but that he has "full confidence of passing a polygraph'' on the leak.

He is mentioned for the chairmanship along with former Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, former Nevada Gov. Robert List, former New Jersey party Chairman David Norcross and current Wisconsin party Chairman Reince Priebus, among others.

Based on the losses last week in high-profile races, Healy said he is prepared for questions on why Connecticut's party leader should be picked over others in states where Republicans made huge gains.

"I think that's a fair point,'' Healy said. "We were unsuccessful, but in the big strategic picture, people on the RNC can look me in the eye and say I took a party that was dormant and made it fully engaged in the Internet age. We recruited a lot of good candidates without a lot of help from the chief executive, and that's fine. ... We didn't even have a Web page when I took over. Now, we have one of the best social media networks. We've got thousands and thousands of people on Facebook and Twitter.''

When asked if Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell had helped the party's candidates this year, Healy responded, "No, she didn't do anything, which is unfortunate. She chose not to, and that's her choice. It just is what it is. You can't make people do things if they don't want to.''

Rell taped radio commercials for U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon and gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley, but was not a major public presence on the campaign trail.

Healy said he would not criticize Rell personally, saying she needed to speak for herself. Rell could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

Insiders also said Rell did not help the state House Republicans, who increased their total by 14 seats, the highest one-year gain by any political party since the state's party lever was eliminated in 1986.

A leading Republican, though, disagreed sharply with Healy.

"It's amazing,'' said the Republican, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Chris Healy evidently recruited every candidate, raised every dollar and was evidently responsible for every Republican who won this year. At the same time, Gov. Rell and other Republican leaders seemingly did nothing to help any candidate. The only thing bigger and more inflated than Chris's ego is the Goodyear blimp. He would fit right in with all the other modest, team-playing politicos already dominating the Washington scene.''

Healy said that in Connecticut races he was fighting huge amounts of money being spent by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association, plus visits by the party's best-known national figures. President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton all came to the Nutmeg State, which has never been one of the leading national battleground states.

"That's an enormous amount of firepower, and we still came within a coin flip on the governor's race,'' Healy said.

At the RNC, Steele has been criticized sharply for months regarding various comments and missteps that have generated national attention. In particular, Healy criticized the huge cost of the party's 48-state "Fire Nancy Pelosi'' tour to oust the U.S. House Speaker. It really was "a Michael Steele re-election tour'' to keep his job as the party chief, Healy said.

The donations of Republicans should not be spent on "tour buses and ballgames and margarita machines,'' Healy said, adding that contributions should not be "wasted on frivolities or high-end living, and there has been some of that.''